140 young curlers – 35 teams – from 6 Winnipeg clubs, 8 rural Manitoba communities and 1 Northern Ontario community – playing in two Winnipeg curling rinks.

Those are the numbers for this year’s Canad Inns Youth Winter Bonspiel underway at Charleswood and Deer Lodge. The event is played in three age divisions : U-13 (9 teams), U-15 (18 teams), and U-18 (8 teams).

The event is intended to be more recreational than competitive. However, in the older age group about half the teams will also play in next weekend’s CurlManitoba U-18 Championship. They are the teams who are beginning to make the transition in their development as curlers toward being more competitive.

Pembina (8 teams) and St. Vital (6 teams) are the most- represented curling clubs. The others of the six Winnipeg clubs are Assiniboine Memorial (3 teams), Fort Garry (2) and Granite & Fort Rouge (1 each). From outside Winnipeg, there are three Swan River teams and two each from Ste Anne and West St. Paul. Single teams have come from Brandon, La Salle, Lorette, Morden, and Petersfield, .

The two out-of-province teams have come from Kakabeka Falls, near Thunder Bay.

The competition is being played in a round-robin pools format with final games in each division set for 3PM on Sunday at Deer Lodge.

Equally important to the event is an emphasis on FAIR PLAY. After each game, each team is asked to rank their opponent and prizes as also awarded based on Fair Play rankings.